Millennium Challenge 2002: Events, results, and analysis

I originally posted this elsewhere 11 months ago under a different title.  I've edited some parts of it since its original posting to make it more accurate.

Background

In mid-2002, the US military held a multi-branch 14-day wargame exercise known as Millennium Challenge, in which General Peter Pace led "Blue" force, a US amphibious and naval fleet, in an attack on General Paul K. Van Riper's "Red" force, which simulated a Middle Eastern military in the Persian Gulf.  The games were designed to test modern, net-centric warfare strategies.  Amongst other assets, the Blue force had a carrier and six amphibious assault ships at their disposal.

Unscripted Freeplay

Blue sends an ultimatum requiring a response within 24 hours.  Red uses a fleet of mostly civilian boats and planes to patrol the Persian Gulf inconspicuously.  A day later, Red's fleet determines the location of and surrounds Blue's armada.  Riper decides to get the first strike in and, coordinating with WWII light signals to launch planes, radio messages disguised as calls to prayer from mosques, and motorcycle messengers; launches an all-out attack with Silkworm anti-ship missiles fired from land and sea, as well as suicide attacks from planes and boats laden with explosives.  The attack overwhelmed Blue's defenses, sinking 10 cruisers, the aircraft carrier, and 5 amphibious assault ships.  US airfields and other facilities around the Gulf were also damaged, predominately by suicide attacks.  As could be expected, Blue's fleet was "refloated" as to prevent a waste of $250,000,000.

Not-So Unscripted Freeplay

What came as a surprise to Riper wasn't the refloating of Blue's forces; it was the blatant scripting of his forces.  For round two, he planned to use a lot of the same basic techniques he had used to stay off the grid (minimal radio signals, no cellphone/satellite phone usage, motorcycle messengers, minimal radar use, etc.).  Instead of that, he found a list of orders from Joint Central command, the game's referees.  Amongst the orders were for him to turn on all of his anti-aircraft radar so that Blue could determine the location of all his anti-air assets and destroy it.  Aside from that, he was to ignore the transport aircraft that would be landing US troops and that he should move his forces away from beaches where Marines would be landing.  After these and other orders, Riper quit the games in disgust at their false pretexts of being a freeplay testing ground.  As can be expected, Blue annihilated Red, freeing it from the evil dictator that Riper had led throughout much of the games.

What the Results Mean

• US Military is too reliant on its electronic and technological advantages.
•  US Military strategy is vulnerable to asymmetrical techniques that, while unacceptable in the West, could very well be considered and used by Middle Eastern or other foreign strategists
• Lessons not learned from Vietnam; US military is not invincible, regardless of technological advantage
• Massed cruise missile strikes can still penetrate US defenses with ease, even if the missiles in question are first-generation missiles.
• Net-centric strategies need to be able to account for the unexpected